Misread
by kaida-amarante
Summary: A creature is lurking in the darkness at the Kirkland house, but no one believes Bryn's warnings until it's too late. Can the family save themselves before it's too late? AU, OC-centric, character death. rating may go up in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Wondering if I shouldn't have made this multi-chapter...Delaney was actually supposed to be really nice...I don't know why she ended up a bitch...anyway, I not gonna give any spoilers, but be prepared for...a lot. **_**Rating may go up in later chapters**_**. And this is a horror story, so it'll hopefully be creepy and/or scary. Sorry that Arthur isn't in this chapter, but he will be in this. Also sorry I've been writing so many wales-centric fics lately...anyway, I hope you enjoy! -Kaida Amarante**

**-0-**

"Ali! Ali!" Alistair Kirkland looked up from the magazine he had been reading as his 16 year-old brother, Bryn, ran in. The blonde was frantic, his emerald eyes wild with fear. "Ali...The monster under my bed is trying to get me again. It's trying to...I don't even know...what does it want? Is it trying to kill me?" Bryn fell to the ground, his breaths as frantic and wild as his eyes. "I'm scared, Ali!"

Alistair stood and made his way to his brother, sympathy laced in his eyes. He knew his brother was too old to believe that there were monsters under his bed. "Bryn, listen to me. It was a dream. You know that." The redhead kneeled to his brother's level. "There's nothing under your bed. Nothing's trying to hurt you."

Bryn looked into his brother's eyes, his own suddenly steeled. "Yes there is. How else would you explain these?" Bryn lifted his grey t-shirt then and Alistair looked where the teen pointed, his emerald eyes wide. Across the boy's toned abdomen were three long gashes, all three stretching across the pale skin and leaving blood behind. The were too long and wide to be from a cat or dog and deep enough to leave blood but nowhere near deep enough to be fatal. "The bloody monster under my bed attacked me." Alistair reached out and gingerly touched one of the gashes, pulling his hand away when Bryn flinched. "I'm not lying, Ali. And I'm not delusional. There is SOMETHING in this bloody house!"

"Stay here. I need to talk to Delaney." Alistair pat his brother on the head and walked out of the room, moving from his own room to that of his 21 year-old sister, Delaney. He knocked twice and waited a minute before entering, his ritual for entering his sister's room. "Delaney? I need to talk to you. It's about Bryn." He looked over toward the vanity on the right side of the room where his sister was sitting, brushing her long, curly, auburn hair. She turned toward him, her emerald eyes smiling. "He came into my room saying that something under his bed tried to attack him."

"He's too old to believe in that kind of silliness." Delaney narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Don't feed that kind of thing."

"I know, and I don't. I told him it was a dream."

"Then why are you in here?"

"Because something actually did attack him."

"What the hell are y-"

"He was hurt." Alistair was trying to keep himself calm. Bryn was always his closest sibling. "He was fucking bleeding, Delaney. He had three gashes across his stomach and they were bleeding." The redhead sighed and closed his eyes. "This is fucking insane. There's something in his room. Something that's hurting him."

"No there isn't." Delaney stood, her eyes and voice furious. "It's all just made up!"

"You're the oldest, Delaney! You're supposed to be protecting your younger siblings! But you're doing a fucking horrible job!" Alistair was just as furious, his hands balled into fists as he glared at his sister.

"What?" Delaney took a step closer, her eyes narrowing. "I'm doing my best to keep you and the younger ones alive. I don't have time to worry about Bryn's delusions!" She pushed a wide-eyed Alistair out of the doorway then and stormed to his room, throwing open the door and glaring at Bryn. "Go back to your own room and go to bed."

"He's not delusional, Delaney! And he shouldn't go back to that room!" Alistair stormed out, one look at Bryn's wide eyes pissing him off. "So just leave him the fuck alone!"

Delaney sent a dark glare Alistair's direction before grabbing Bryn by the arm and pulling him off the floor. "Bryn. Go to bed."

"D-Delaney! There's something in there and-"

"No there's not! You're going fucking crazy or something, Bryn!" The redhead then proceeded to drag Bryn back to his room, throwing him inside before slamming the door closed.

...

That was when all hell broke lose.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: And now all Hell breaks lose. Probably literally.**

**-0-**

It all started when the lights went out. Delaney and Alistair's heads snapped up in shock at the sudden darkness. Then Bryn screamed. Alistair grabbed the doorknob and yanked it open, staring down at Bryn, who was sitting on his toes, hands over his ears and eyes closed tight. Alistair grabbed him and pulled him out of the bedroom, gasping at the rush of cold air that passed him. "Alistair! What's going on? Why'd Bryn scream? And why are the lights out?" Alistair and Delaney turned toward the new voice, staring wide-eyed at their 14 year-old brother, Connor. "Wh-what's...going on...?" Next to him was the youngest child, 12 year-old Arthur.

"Nothing. We had a power outage and it scared Bryn since he's been having nightmares lately. It's nothing to worry about. Go back to bed, both of you." Delaney was back to her normal self, trying to take control of the situation and not let anyone think anything was wrong.

"Delaney..." Alistair stared at his sister, his breath making white clouds in front of him. "It's summer. It's not supposed to be so cold in here. But it's freezing." Alistair clutched a still frightened Bryn to his chest, trying to preserve the boy's body heat. "This is wrong, Delaney. What's going on?"

And suddenly Arthur screamed, pointing behind Delaney and Alistair, who turned slowly and also screamed. Standing behind them was a woman about Delaney's height with curly red hair and deep chocolate eyes. The reason they screamed wasn't because the woman was see-through, but because she was covered in blood that ran down from her eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. And because she was missing her right arm and most of her stomach. The white dress she was wearing made the blood redder.

"God...oh God...Mom!" Arthur ran forward, despite his sibling's grabs at him. "Mom!"

"Arthur! Stop!" And Arthur did stop when Bryn screamed out at him. "That's not...That's not Mom..." Bryn's eyes were wide as he stared at the woman. "We know that Mom wouldn't let us see her like this...she wouldn't...And you know it. That's why she wouldn't let us near when she died!"

And suddenly there was a cold blast of air and a scream that seemed to come form something like a banshee. Alistair clutched Bryn to him as Delaney reached out and grabbed the youngest sibling, pulling him back. Alistair looked up, his eyes widening as he stared at the woman. Her skin had started to peel off and her face was contorted grotesquely in a fit of rage. Her once human-like nails had grown until they were almost as long as her arms and were sharpened and yellow like her now long teeth. Auburn hair was falling in piles around her as she crouched and stared at the siblings with crimson where the white of her eyes should be and white irises. Alistair did all he could think of; grabbed Bryn and Connor and ran. He could hear the nails scraping against the walls as they ran, knowing they were being chased.

"It's your fault! It's all your fault! I'm dead and it's your fault! Why did you kill me?" Arthur screamed when the voice started screaming at them, a mixture of their mother's voice and that of a demon. "You're my children! You were supposed to love me! I loved you! I gave you everything! Why would you kill me?" Bryn looked back once, screaming when he came face to face with the...thing, his nose suddenly filled with the stench of rotting flesh. It was falling apart, pieces of flesh and and hair falling around it. Alistair grabbed Bryn's wrist and started dragging him forward, Bryn's cue to continue looking forward. Not to look back.

"Arthur! Hurry up! Please!" Bryn cried out at Delaney's voice, struggling against Alistair's grip as he attempted to go help the youngest sibling. "Arthur! It's coming!" Screams...Delaney's...Arthur's...Bryn screamed at the sounds. Mixed in with screaming was the sickening sound of blood splattering against the wooden floors of the house. Bryn struggled against his brother's grip again, digging his heels into the ground in order to stop moving. "Don't look back." Delaney set her hand on Bryn's back, her words soft. "Bryn...don't look back."

There was another banshee-esque shreik, making Bryn shudder and close his eyes tightly against the noise. "He's gone..." The blonde choked back a sob. "Arthur's gone...Oh God...no...no, no, no, no, no!" The personal hell had just begun.

**-0-**

**AN: I'm sorry for killing Arthur off first...Um...I feel like this wasn't scary enough...I probably could have made it better and creepier...I'm sorry...maybe I just should've added some more...I just didn't want filler. And also, this is my first time writing horror, so please go easy on me**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: For those of you that are interested, Delaney is 21, Alistair is 19, Bryn is 16, Connor is 14, and Arthur was 12. I feel like I could do this story a lot better...I'm sorry...**

**-0-**

Alistair wrapped his arms around Bryn, shooting Delaney dirty looks. "What the hell, you bitch? If you had just listened to me in the first place, then none of this would've happened. If you had fucking listened then Arthur wouldn't be dead and Bryn wouldn't have having a mental breakdown!" Alistair ignored his brother's pleas for him to stop, standing and glaring. "Bryn warned us and you didn't believe him! Bryn fucking knew what was going on! This is your fucking fault, Delaney!"

Delaney wwas staring with eyes filled with shock as her brother yelled the words at her. His words were constant, as were Bryn's voice, begging him to stop. It was Connor's voice breaking through the tense air that made them all freeze. "Alistair, stop it! I may not know exactly what's going on, but I do know that this is a hard time for all of us and it's not the time for us to be fighting. We need to stick together. It's what family does. We made it through Mom and Dad's deaths, we can make it through one more as long as we all just stick together!"

"Yeah? Well when Mom and Dad died, it wasn't because a family member turned into a fucking demon, Connor!" Alistair pulled Bryn to his feet, his eyes cold. "This isn't like anything else we've gone through. So don't comp-" And suddenly Connor was screaming, his panicked eyes klocked on something behind the rest of his family. Alistair knew that there was only one thing that could make his laid-back brother scream like that. "There's a giant snake behind me, isn't there?" Connor nodded, his eyes still frantic although the screaming stopped. "Okay. Then I guess that right now would be a good time to run!" He screamed the last word, grabbing Bryn and Connor's hands before sprinting to the stairs. He sent the two younger boys down first before following, comforted by hearing his older sister's footsteps following behind.

"Why is there a giant snake in our house?" Connor's voice was as frantic as his eyes had been, and now his eyes were closed as he sobbed in fear.

"I don't know, but I think it's time to get the fuck out of here!" Alistair raced to the door, stopping and crying out when he was blocked by a long, green tail. Connor spun away from the tail in fear, dragging Alistair with him as it wrapped itself around Bryn, who screamed and started fighting agaisnt the grip that was growing tighter and tighter around him, making it harder and harder to breath. "Bryn! Stop struggling!"

"Fire! Alistair, do you have your lighter?" Alistair turned toward Delaney in shock, noticing out of the corner of his eyes that the snakes head was making its way towards Bryn, its long fang dripping in venom. "Please, Alistair, I need your lighter!" With a nod, Alistair dug in the pocket of his jeans, his hands shaking and fumbling in his fear. When he found the small, metal lighter, he threw it to his sister, who flicked it open and ran to the tail, where Bryn was being held. He had his head turned away, his teeth grit in determination as the snakes head came closer to him. "Get away from my brother, you dickheaded serpent!" With this, she pushed the fire against the snake, who hissed loudly and dropped a now gasping Bryn to the ground. "I'm not going to let them get hurt again, not any of them."

"Delaney!" Connor raced forward, grabbing his sister and pulling her down as the snake bit right where she had been. "We need to get out of here..."

"Alistair!" Delaney turned to where Alistair had been, her eyes going wide when he wasn't there. Then she looked over and found him kneeling over Bryn, making sure the boy was alright. She sighed and turned back to Connor. "We can't get out of here. I thought you figured that out. It's not going to let us."

Connor gulped and looked up at the snake. "I'm not gonna die for nothing."

"Connor?"

The snake lunged and Connor moved, Delaney was screaming as Alistair and Bryn's eyes went wide. Everything seemed to become real when Bryn's scream tore through the room. "Connor! Connor, no! Don't! You can't die on me! You can't! I can't lose anybody else!" Bryn Was screaming and sobbing, falling into Alistair's arms as Delaney's breath became labored, blood and body parts falling around her, covered in the snake's venom.

"Don't look back..." Alistair whispered the words Delaney had told Bryn before, covering the boy's eyes with his hand. "Bryn, don't look back. Delaney...we're going to break...All of us..."

Delaney studied her reamining siblings with wide eyes. Bryn was sobbing and screaming still, his eyes covered by Alistair's hand. The redhead was holding his brother close, his emerald eyes filled with fire. "Bryn...is he going to be okay?"

"I don't know...I really don't know..."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: This is a short chapter. There's also not as much action in this one. But things are about to get...good. ;) You've been warned.**

**-0-**

"If it hadn't been Connor, it would've been you, Delaney." Alistair rubbed calming circles in his brother's back as he stared as his silently crying sister. "You know that. He did say he wouldn't die for nothing. And he didn't. He died to protect you." She was covered in blood at this point and was shaking with sobs.

"Two of my brothers have died because of me..." Her green eyes found their way to Bryn's face. "And another is going crazy...You were right, Alistair...it's my fault..." Bryn was staring at the spot the snake had been, tears still falling out of his emerald eyes. The only evidence left of the snake was the blood and body parts where Connor had been killed.

There was silence between them, then. "Who do you think it'll go after next?" Bryn's voice was quiet. "Judging on the pattern, me..since I'm the youngest one left..." Bryn leaned back into his brother's arms, his eyes emotionless. "I wonder what it's going to be for me."

"Bryn? What are you talking about?" Delaney stared with confusion. "What do you mean?"

Bryn smiled, chuckling softly. "Have you not noticed? It takes the form of our greatest fear. It's torturing us in more ways than one."

"Tch. Like I'm scared of anything." Alistair didn't notice how his arms subconsciously wrapped tighter around Bryn's torso. "So it can't do anything to me. So I'll protect you, Bryn. And you, Delaney." The air became still and cold, until Bryn was shaking violently with shivers. Alistair wrapped his arms tighter around his brother as his emerald eyes flit from side to side, searching for whatever would attack them. "It's too dark in here...I can't see anything..."

Bryn's eyes widened, his hands gripping Alistair's arms. "That's the point! That's why it only attacks when it's dark!" Bryn grabbed the lighter from Delaney's hands and flicked it open. "So we can't see it coming!" Bryn's eyes grew even wider when he felt something fly past him. "What the hell?"

Alistair gasped as he felt something slice through his skin and then he gripped his abdomen, holding his hand against a cut that was bleeding profusely. Delaney screamed as she was grabbed from behind and pulled backwards, away from the small amount of light from the lighter and into the dark. The two were about to chase after when the lighter was flung out of Bryn's hand, leaving them in darkness again. "Delaney! Delaney!" Alistair reached out and grabbed Bryn, keeping the boy close. "Delaney, where are you?" Bryn covered his ears as blood-curdling screams tore through the room. Delaney's screams. "Delaney, what the fuck is going on?"

The screams suddenly stopped as the brothers' eyes adjusted to the darkness. Bryn screamed at the sight. There was a black-cloaked figure standing above what had been a body. It was hacked to pieces, everything but the head unrecognizable. Her mouth was open in a silent scream, frozen for the rest f time. Bryn watched the creature turn towards him, the scythe in its hands dripping with blood. It took a step towards them, prompting Alistair to grab Bryn and run away. "Delaney! What was Delaney's worst fear?"

"...Death..."


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I just noticed that "pants" like what we wear, is the same as "pants" like when you're breathing hard. Am I just oblivious to the world around me?**

**-0-**

Alistair continued running, his breaths coming in pants as he and his brother raced through the house, making their way to the den. They crouched in the darkness, waiting for a few minutes before relaxing and sitting down, still on their guard. "Alistair, I know you have to be scared of something or the...whatever this is...wouldn't be coming after you as well. So what are you scared of?"

There was a pause. "You. I'm scared of somethiing happening to you-"

"Don't say it!"

"If something happened to you I couldn't-"

"Stop! Alistair, don't say it!"

"I couldn't handle it! Seeing you get hurt...so that you couldn't recover...I couldn't handle it!" The brothers turned, shocked, when the door was flung open and there was an inhuman shreik filling the room. "Bryn!" Alistair screamed as something hot and slimey wrapped around his throat, picking him up and throwing him across the room. He cried out in pain when he hit a display case, glass shattering around him. He faintly recognized that it was his father's old gun case. Glass was digging into his body, leaving bloody trails on the pale skin. When his pain-filled eyes opened, they widened in shock.

The creature was now a...the only thing he could describe it as was a tentacle monster and had one tentacle wrapped around Bryn's neck, holding him off the ground. His wrists were being held together above his head by another tentacle. His legs were being held apart, and two tentacles were starting to make their way up Bryn's pajama pants. "Alistair! Alistair, help!" Alistair felt a shudder rack through his body. The voice coming out of Bryn's throat was desperate and scared, cracking and making him sound like he did as a kid.

_"Alistair! Alistair, help! It's Mom! Something's-!" Alistair had already hoped out of his chair and started running down the stairs when Bryn let out a blood curdling scream before calling out a single word. "Mom!" 13 year-old Alistair raced down the stairs and into the den, his emerald eyes widening when he ran into Bryn and saw why the boy had been screaming. His mother was on the floor, covered in blood and letting out labored breaths. She had a knife sticking out of her chest and her emerald eyes staring at the ceiling. Her right arm was almost severed from the cuts made and part of her stomach had been nearly ripped open. "Mom...Ali, Ali, I'm scared..."_

_Alistair moved forward, only to be stopped by his mom raising a hand and turning her eyes to him. "Don't come near. You can't do anything. I'm going to die anyway. Just take Bryn and get out. The younger kids are already outside with Delaney. She called the police."_

_Alistair nodded and gathered his 10 year old brother in his arms, taking the crying boy out of the house. "Ali...I don't want to die..."_

"Ali!" Alistair snapped out of his memories and trained his eyes on his brother's crying face. "Ali, I don't want to die!"

"You won't, Bryn! I promised myself on the day Mom died that I wasn't going to let you die!" Bryn closed his eyes tightly, nodding as the tentacles moved farther up his pants. "And I'm not going to let this bloody wanker get to me." It was then that Alistair remembered what it was that he had been thrown into and reached around, grabbing one of his dad's shotguns, aiming at the creature holding his brother. "And I'm not going to let it hurt you."

The creature's tentacles released his throat and left his pants, setting him on the ground before moving it's tentacles from the blonde's wrists to around his waist. "Hey! Don't point that gun at me!"

"I'm not!"

"Yeah you are! It's aimed right at my chest!"

"No, it's not. You're a paranoid idiot!"

This continued going on for a while until the creature let go of Bryn and walked off, trying to leave the den. "Hey! Don't walk away from me!" Alistair moved the gun until it was once again pointing at the creature before pulling the trigger.

The creature shreiked again as the shot ripped through it. Bryn stumbled forward, falling into his brother's arms as the creature made it's way out of the room. "Are you alright, Bryn?" Bryn nodded, burying his head. "You had me really worried there. You sounded like you did on the day Mom...died..."

"I know." Bryn sighed. "I know."


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I would've written over the weekend, but I was in too good a mood that it wouldn't have gone well at all. So, I'm back and hoping it goes well! So, for those of you that are fans of Bryn, I made a blog on tumblr for him! www. aph-bryn-kirkland .tumblr .com minus the the spaces, for those of you who would like to follow him, since you'll see a different side of him than you do in this story or Fate. Well...this is the climax! Only this and one more chapter left! And then I get to move on to the sequel! If you guys want it, of course.**

**-0-**

"Bryn? Are you doing alright?" Alistair glanced down at his younger brother, his emerald eyes laced with worry and fear. "You're not...I mean...you aren't hurt, right?" The two were sitting in the den, Alistair still clutching the shotgun to his chest as his eyes flit nervously from the door to his brother, who was leaning against him tiredly. "That must've done some major...damage."

"I'm fine." Bryn's words were quiet and chopped. "I've gotten used to all these things happening." It had only been a couple hours and yet the two had already lost every member of their family. Life had already turned into a nightmare from the blissful naivete they had been living in beforehand. "Arthur...Connor...Delaney...They've all...Ali...Big Brother...I can't lose you too..."

Alistair simply pulled his brother closer, rubbing circles calmingly in the boy's arm. Neither said anything.

It wasn't that long before Bryn was asleep, his brother's arms wrapped securely around him. "Bryn...I won't...I won't let you get hurt again...I promise. Delaney and Connor...They both died...for you. And I'll do the same if I have to. You'd hate me if you heard me say that...But...Oh well, huh?"

Bryn groaned softly in his sleep and suddenly his green eyes flew open, staring at Alistair in shock. It was then that a roar ripped through the room, something that Alistair would later describe simply as demonic. And instead of the cold the two had grown accostomed to, there was an unbearable heat. As the two started panting and sweating, the door to the den was broken open, torn down by a roaring fire that tore apart any obstacles. Alistair cried out and turned to his now standing brother, the fire allowing him to see, for the first time, the bruises and blood covering the pale body. "Alistair! Be prepared! It's using my fear this time!"

Before either teen could say any more, a black figure appeared in the middle of the fire, slowly coming closer. Its red eyes were glaring from a dark face, the only color being the blood dripping from the monster's lips. Chains rattled around its four legs as it moved closer, clinking with each and ever step it took. Suprisingly, the thing that stuck out most to Alistair was the shape. It was basically a giant dog. A hell hound. "Bryn! You're scared of going to Hell?"

"I know. I know that I've done horrible things. I'm going to Hell. But that doesn't mean that I'm not scared of it."

"Why do you think you're going to Hell?"

"I killed all of you...and I killed Mom." Alistair felt all color drain from his face as he stared at his brother. "Satan owns my soul, at this point, and I feel it's time to pay up." AListair cried out as his brother flung his arms out and glared at the beast in front of him. "Come and get me!"

**-0-**

**AN: Cliffhanger alert! Bet you didn't see that coming! I sure didn't! ... I really didn't...it just kinda happened...**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: So, this is a really short chapter. And the last one. Anyone up for a sequel? ;)**

**-0-**

Bryn screamed as he woke, the bright light of his bedroom blinding against his darkness-adapted eyes. His breaths were pants and gasps as he stared around the room, trying to discern what was real and what was imagined. The claw marks on the walls and his abdomen told a different story than what he thought was real. However, he managed to stay slightly sane...until Delaney opened the door and checked in on her younger brother. It was then that Bryn snapped, screaming and staring in fear, his words slurred. "No! You're dead! You're dead, you're dead, you're dead!" He grabbed the closest thing to him, a pair of scissors, and attacked.

When Arthur and Connor started screaming, Bryn screamed at them, stabbing them until his screams were the only noise left. Well, that and the sickening sound of scissors cutting through flesh. The attack only stopped when Bryn's arms were grabbed and he was pulled to his feet. "Bryn! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

_Alistair_. Bryn's emerald eyes widened as he looked down, staring at the mutilated bodies of his family. The older brother simply held on and bit back his tears as his brother almost fell to the ground, only held up by Alistair's grip, and emitted a shrill scream unlike any they had heard before.

**-0-**


End file.
